Draft rigging



May 9, 1939.

H. E. VAN DORN DRAFT RIGGING 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Oct. 31, 1956 I III Hill 1\ May 9, 1939. H. E. VAN BORN 2,157, 6 I DRAFT RIGGING Filed Oct. 31, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 H. E. VAN DORN 2,157,363

DRAFT RIGGING Filed Oct. 31, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 4 i iii; 26 use 29. x 2a :32 J2 5/ cal Patented May 9, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFHZE.

DRAFT RIGGING nois Application October 31, 1936, Serial No. 108,573

6 Claims.

The present invention relates particularly to that type of draft appliance for railway cars in which the car coupler is connected to the front end of a long strut or stem that has a lateral swinging movement; the rear end of the strut being hinged to spring cushioning means mounted between the car sills, while the front end of the apparatus as a whole is supported in a carrier hung from an arc-shaped track or rail. It is desirable that the apparatus be so constructed that the strut and the carrier be removable without taking the entire draft rigging apart and dropping down or disassembling the spring mechanism.

The object of the present invention is so to construct a draft rigging of the type to which I have referred that, without necessitating the use of a drawbar carrier which may be taken apart, the strut and carrier are removable while the spring mechanism remains on the car.

In carrying out my invention, I so construct the mounting for the spring mechanism that the latter may be shifted back bodily through a considerable distance from its normal position of use; thereby permitting the spring mechanism, including the drawbar yoke, to be moved back out of the way, after the yoke has been disconnected from the strut, and permitting the strut to be drawn back far enough to be dropped down no and leave the carrier free to be moved laterally, in either direction, until it clears an end of the supporting rail or track. Normally, the spring mechanism is held in its normal working position by a filler means inserted behind it, which filler means may easily be disconnected and be dropped down out of the Way.

Therefore, viewed in one of its aspects, the present invention may be said to have for its object to produce a simple and novel draft appliance in which the spring mechanism may readily be shifted from a normal working position to an idle position, without removing it from the car.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be 45 pointed out with particularity in the claims; but,

for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, where- 50 Figure l is a top view, partly in plan, and

partly in section, of the rear end of a draft rigging and mounting, embodying the present in vention; Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

55 Fig. 3 is a plan view, more or less similar to Fig.

1, showing the drawbar yoke and strut disconnected from each other and the spring mechanism and yoke pushed back into an idle position; Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing the parts in the positions occupied in Fig. 3; Fig, 5 r is a section taken on line 55 of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a section taken on the irregular line 6-6 of Fig. 1; Fig. '7 is a side view of the construction shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 8 is a section on line 8-8 of Fig. 7, showing only a fragment; and Fig. 9 is an end view of a fragment of the detachable filler member or block.

Referring to the drawings, I and 2 are the center sills of a railway car. Fixed to the inner sides of these sills are suitable castings 3 and t between 15 which the draft and buffing springs are mounted. As is customary in constructions of this general character, each of the castings 3 and t has near its front end a transverse shoulder or abutment 5 to which the pull of the drawbar is transmitted 20 to the car sills. Similar abutments 6 are located at the rear ends of these castings to take the drawbar thrusts or bufiing stresses and transmit them to the car sills. The only novelty in the construction so far described is that the rear abutments 6 are placed farther back than in ordinary practice; there being a sturdy filler member 1 lying directly in front of the rear abutments and spanning the gap between the rear abutments. This'filler member or block extends forward to a transverse vertical plane which is the plane in which the front faces of the rear abutments, in ordinary construction, lie. Therefore, the front end of the filler member or block is in position to act in the manner and serve the purpose of the ordinary rear abutments, transmitting the drawbar thrusts to the abutments 6 that lie behind it. This filler is adapted to be placed in position by lifting it up from below and when it is to be removed, it may simply be dropped down, The filler may be secured in any suitable way, conveniently by a few horizontal. bolts passing through the castings ii and t and the car sills. For the sake of lightness, the filler is preferably made in the form of a single casting comprising end or head portions ii and thin web-like horizontal connecting members 9 and Iii, spaced apart from each other. The connecting pieces 9 and it] are narrower, from front to rear, than the corresponding dimensions of the heads or ends, and are disposed between the rear portions of these heads or ends so as to leave a clear space between the front portions of the heads for the play of the drawbar yoke. In the arrangement shown, each head or end member of the filler block is in the shape of a rectangular pan standing on edge, so that the bottom wall I I of the pan stands upright. Two bolts I2, I2 extend through each of the walls H and through the corresponding center sill of the car; the nuts on the bolts being preferably on the outer sides of the center sills so as to be readily accessible. Each of the castings 3 and 4 may be provided with a large web-like vertical ear l3 that lies close to the corresponding end of the filler, so as roughly to center the filler in a transverse direction. The bolts l2 pass through the ears 13. Since the filler block is intended to act simply as a strut to transmit thrusts to the abutments 6, it is advisable that the bolts do not hold it rigidly and be thus subjected to shearing stresses. In the arrangement shown, there is under the head of each of the bolts l2 a headed washer l4 that extends through a hole [5 larger in diameter than the body of the washer, so that longitudinal thrusts on the filler block are not resisted directly by the bolts, but only by the friction between the heads of the washers and the underlying faces of the walls ll of the filler block. Thus, even though the bolts might not be subjected to stresses tending to deform them even if they fitted accurately in the holes in the walls II through which they pass, all danger of such a happening is prevented by the construction just described, and the bolts can therefore always be easily removed and replaced, when desired.

The spring cushion which I have illustrated is substantially that disclosed in my prior application Serial Number 8,522, in which there are front and rear follower plates l6 and I1 respectively, and intervening spacing plates [8, l9 and 20 alternating with groups of spring plates 2|. Instead of permitting the front follower to engage with the front abutments 5, and the rear follower to engage directly with the auxiliary abutments, which are the front ends of the head sections 8 of the filler blocks, I set over each longitudinal vertical face or edge of the spring and follower assembly a retaining member 22 which is a casting in the shape of a shallow rectangular pan the sides of which are at right angles to the bottom wall. These retaining members are preferably composed of manganese steel which will effectively resist abrading action when the elements of the spring cushion move back and forth during normal service. The use of these retaining members makes it very easy to place the spring under an initial tension, in the factory; the entire spring unit being simply compressed far enough to permit the retaining members to be applied; whereupon, when the pressure on the cushion is released, the cushion simply expands as far as the retaining members will permit. Thereafter, the spring cushion may be handled as a self-contained unit in which the springs are under the desired initial stress. This spring unit is between the castings 3 and 4, the retainers fitting between the front abutments 5 and the effective rear abutments 8 as best shown in Fig. 1. The spring unit is, of course, embraced by the usual drawbar yoke 23. The rear end of the drawbar strut 24 lies between the front ends of the arms of the yoke 23 and is hinged thereto by a heavy, vertical journal in the form of a bolt 25. The castings 3 and 4 do not of themselves support the spring cushion against dropping down, but this support is provided by a bottom plate 26 that underlies these castings and bridges the gap between them, as best shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The bottom plate also underlies the drawbar yoke,

the lower arm of which may or may not rest upon the same. In order that the drawbar strut may be shifted back into the space ordinarily occupied by the spring unit, it is necessary to remove the bottom plate 26 which would otherwise be in the way. As a matter of fact, the spring unit itself cannot be moved back to the abutment 6 after the filler block has been taken out, until the bottom plate has been taken off, because the thickened front end of the yoke will strike the front end of the bottom plate when the yoke is pushed back a little farther than it travels in ordinary use. Therefore, in order that the spring unit and the yoke may remain on the car when the bottom plate is removed, means are provided for supporting the spring unit from below, independently of the bottom plate. This means comprises a pair of long, narrow plates 21, 2'! which overlie the bottom plate along the long side edges of the latter. These auxiliary plates are fastened to the castings 3 and 4 independently of the bottom plate, so that they will remain in position after the bottom plate has been dropped, and they are wide enough to underlie the two retaining members 22. Thus, the plate 26 underlies an outwardly directed flange 28 on each of the castings 3 and 4, and the outer half of each of the plates 2! lies between the corresponding flange and the underlying plate 26. Bolts 29 pass down through the flanges 28, the plates 21, and the underlying plate 26. These bolts may conveniently be applied to the flanges by moving them laterally into deep notches 30 in the outer edges of these flanges. Other bolts 3| extend through the flanges 28 and through the plates 21, the plates 26 having deep, wide notches 32 cut into the same at the points where these short bolts appear, as best shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. The bolts 3| also lie in certain of the notches 30 in the flanges 28, so that they may be inserted by lateral movements. It will be seen that when the nuts are removed from the bolts 29, the bottom plate will drop down, leaving the space underneath the drawbar yoke entirely unobstructed. However, the short bolts continue to support the plates 21 which then serve as supporting rails for the spring unit when the spring unit and the drawbar yoke are moved back after the filler block 1 has been taken out.

It is not necessary to rely entirely upon the bolts l2 to hold the filler block in place. Normally, support may be given to the filler block by rearward extensions 33 on the bottom plate, along opposite sides thereof. These extensions, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 5, underlie flanges 34 which project laterally from the front end of the filler block so as to extend beneath the rear portions of the castings 3 and 4. When the bottom plate is in position on the car, the tails or extensions 33 are pressed up against the under faces of the flanges or wings 34 and will support the filler block even though the bolts l2 should be removed.

In Figs. 1 and 2, I have shown the parts in their normal working conditions and, in Figs. 3 and 4, the strut is shown as having been disconnected from the drawbar yoke and the spring unit and the drawbar yoke as having been shifted back, the yoke even farther than the spring unit. It will be seen that the strut may now be moved back into the space that is normally occupied by the spring unit. It will also be seen that the spring unit has not been changed in any way, so that when the assembly is again to be completed,

this unit need only be pushed forward and the yoke still farther forward; the yoke being then connected to the rear end of the strut and the filler block being raised up behind the spring cushion. Finally, the bottom plate is applied to tie together and brace the castings 3 and 4 and stiffen and strengthen the sill structure in the region where the draft and bufling stresses are imposed.

It will thus be seen that by changing what may be termed standard construction only to the extent of moving back the rear abutments for the spring unit and providing an auxiliary abutment device in the form of a filler block, I am enabled to remove the drawbar strut and the drawbar carrier, leaving the spring unit intact; thus permitting a one-piece drawbar carrier to be employed instead of requiring that the carrier be made in sections into which it may be separated to free the drawbar therefrom. It will also be seen that by providing the retaining member for holding the spring under tension when the spring unit is pushed back out of the way, I am enabled to place the spring under tension in the course of manufacturing the unit instead of while the unit is being assembled on the car as is the case with ordinary construction.

While the present invention is particularly applicable to that type of draft rigging in which the drawbar cannot be swung laterally far enough to permit the drawbar carrier to run off the end of the arc-shaped supporting track or rail, even after the strut has been disconnected from the spring unit, in some of its aspects the invention is of broader scope. Therefore, while I have referred only to the primary or main use of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to that particular use or to the specific structural details of the embodiment which I have illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a railway car draft apparatus, a spring unit including front and rear followers, cap-like retaining members extending lengthwise of and fitted upon said unit at opposite sides thereof and holding said unit under an initial compression, a supporting structure having abutments against which the front ends of said retainers bear and other abutments located at some distance behind said retainers, detachable filling means in the space between the rear ends of the retaining members and the rear abutments, and a draft device means cooperating with said followers.

2. In a railway car apparatus, a spring unit, cap-like retaining members fitted upon the unit at opposite sides of the same and holding said unit under an initial compression, and stationary abutment devices engaged with the front and rear ends of said retaining members to hold the latter against longitudinal movements, the rear abutment devices including elements that are readily removable to permit the unit to be shifted bodily in the rearward direction.

3. The combination with the center sills of a railway car, of cheek plates fixed to said sills, a drawbar apparatus including a spring unit lying between said cheek plates, abutments on the cheek plates in front of and engaged with said unit, rear abutments on said check plates behind and spaced apart from said unit, a filler block fitting between the rear abutments and the spring unit and adapted to be placed in position by raising it and be removed by lowering it, bolts extending through the sills and through adjacent parts of the filler block, narrow detachable plates for said unit each extending longitudinally of the sills underneath one side of said unit; and a bottom plate underlying said unit, spanning the gap between the cheek plates, and secured to the cheek plates by fastenings which permit the removal of the bottom plate without disturbing said narrow plates.

4. In a draft gear support, parallel longitudinal cheek plate members each having along its lower edge a laterally and outwardly directed flange, a bottom plate underlying the said members and having marginal portions below said flanges, narrow longitudinal plates lying between said flanges and said bottom plate and projecting laterally into the space between the cheek plate members, said flanges having slots opening out through the outer long edges thereof, bolts extending through some of said slots and through the corresponding narrow plate and the bottom plate, and other bolts extending through slots and through the said narrow plates, the bottom plate being cut away in the vicinity of the latter bolts to permit the bottom plate to be detached without removing these bolts.

5. In a railway car draft apparatus, central sills spaced apart from each other, stationary front and rear abutments fixed to said sills, a spring cushion device including front and rear follower plates with spring means positioned between the same and means connecting said follower plates together to hold said spring means constantly un der an initial compression, a drawbar, means connecting said drawbar to said spring cushion device independently of the connecting means between said followers, said spring cushion device being shorter than the distance between the said front and rear abutments, and a readily removable filler lying behind said device and engaged with the rear follower and with the rear abutments so as to serve as rigid forward extensions of the latter.

6. In a draft gear support, parallel longitudinal cheek plate members each having along its lower edge a laterally and outwardly directed flange, a bottom plate underlying said members and having marginal portions below said flanges, narrow longitudinal plates lying between said flanges and said bottom plates and. projecting inwardly into the space between the cheek plate members, bolts securing said narrow longitudinal plates to said flanges, and bolts passing through said bottom plate and through said narrow longitudinal plates to secure said bottom plate to said flanges.

HERBERT E. VAN DORN. 

